Just as Surprising
by tastes like bacon
Summary: Piercing blue eyes snapped open beneath wayward strands of black hair. The message they conveyed was clear, 'Piss off'. Even Dally knew better than to piss off Tim Shepherd right now. Rating due to language/adult situations.
1. The Beginning is the End is the Beginnin

Hello!!

So I got this idea for a story that will mainly revolve around flashbacks that lead up to the first chapter. But if no one's interested, I wont bother so feedback would be very much appreciated. C=

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders and am not making any profit from this fanbased story.

**Important note:** This is the only short chapter. I didn't want it to be this short, but I promise that everything else will be longer.

-Start-

"Hey, where's Emma?" Sodapop Curtis asked in between mouthfulls of chocolate cake.

"Hasn't come out of her room. Probably still sleeping. You know what she's like."

A collective sigh went around the kitchen at Darry's statement. Emma's mornings were legendary at the Curtis house. To say she likes her sleep is putting it lightly. Very lightly.

Ponyboy could understand why she had such trouble waking up in the morning in that she was an extremely restless sleeper. Through the thin walls he could always hear her tossing and turning and at least once a night, she'd accidentally kick or hit the wall while moving around. 'Usually she's up by now though,' he thought.

"Maybe someone should check on her," Ponyboy suggested. "She was unusually quiet last night. Usually she's always movin' around in her sleep but I didn't hear nothin'. 'Sides, she never sleeps in this late."

The group looked at the clock on the wall. The hands showed 12:30. Emma was usually up by now.

Soda placed his plate and glass in the sink. Stretching his arms above his head he said, "well, I'll go check on Sleeping Beauty. Wish me lu-"

"Where the hell is that little shit!" A voice roared as the front door slammed shut while effectively cutting Soda off. Dallas Winston had arrive. By the sounds of it, he was feeling just peachy. Dally stormed down the hall to Emma's bedroom door.

Everyone in the kitchen sprang up and hurried after Dally, getting ready to stop him from doing something stupid.

Dally flung the door open, ready to launch a string of curses at the still sleeping girl. "Wha... The hell is this?" It was all that he was able to get out.

Piercing blue eyes snapped open beneath wayward strands of black hair. The message they conveyed was clear, 'Fuck off'. Even Dally knew better than to piss off Tim Shepherd right now.

The rest of the gang peered around Dally's still frame and became frozen themselves. Emma Curtis was sound asleep tucked up in Tim Shepherd's arms. At the sound of Dally's outburst, she snuggled deeper into Tim's chest as he placed his chin back ontop of her head.

It was just as surprising as the fact they were both fully clothed.

-Finish-

So there's the first chapter that everything else will be leading up to. Sound interesting? Let me know and I'll continue it.

Thanks for reading!! C=


	2. How I began

Alright, so here's chapter two. This is going to be the only chapter that will be in 1st POV. Everything else will be in third person.

**Important: **This chapter is just placing Emma into the picture. Sorry if it's boring, it's loaded with information that I needed to get in there somehow.

Thank you to Mopiece and Ak for reviewing the first chapter. It's much appreciated.

I forgot to mention, it takes place before the book.

After this chapter, my writing style will become more like last chapter. So please bear with me. Thanks =)

-start-

When I was little, my parents and I lived in a small house with my mother and father. We lived in the suburbs on the less fortunate side of town. It didn't really matter to me much though, I had the best parents ever and my innocent self was happy and ignorant of the problems that would face me later in life.

I was a very happy kid. I was a single child and my parents had more than enough love for me. Every summer we would take a trip to visit my cousins in Tulsa. I would always love going down South to visit those just as much friends as family. Darry was my protector. He was three years older than me, and at that time, three years is a lot older. Sodapop was my twin practically. We did everything together and with his friend Steve Randle. Ponyboy was my baby. When I was really young, I'd pretend he was mine. The parents all got a few laughs out of it but it he became a close friend once we grew up more.

Once I started getting older, things changed. I started highschool, which for most is not a big deal, but when you go to MLK, it is. They have this tradition that on your first day of school, you get 'kicked in'. It doesn't matter if you're a boy or girl, or your race, or your social status, you get kicked in. Instead of learning how to prepare for your future, I learned how to protect myself for each day of life. I lived for summer vacations where I could go back down to Tulsa and be me again. I was no longer Emma Curtis, the girl who had to help others hide whenever certain people walked down the halls to avoid being beaten up. I was Emma Curtis, who had three cousins that were more like brothers and friends who with them, didn't have to worry about protecting everyone anymore. I was the one being protected now.

Just before my 16th birthday disaster struck my family. I woke up to the smell of burning and an intense heat. My house was burning down and my family and I were still in it! My room was on the ground floor close to a window so I knew I could get out if I needed to, but I needed to get my parents, since they were on the top floor. I ran through the flames, only caring to get to my parents room, but the stairs were blocked off by a wall of flames. Frantic, I was about to run up to go save my parents when I was grabbed around the waist by a fireman and pulled me out of the house. I passed out before we reached the front door.

See, this is my problem. When I first wake up, I dont remember anything of what's been happening. It takes about half an hour on average for me to come to. If I didn't have this problem, I would have remembered that my parents were with my aunt and uncle in Tulsa for the week and that I was home alone. I could have just ran out of my house and everything would have been fine. My parents were never in their room to start with therefore I wouldn't of had to save them.

My memories between then and when I fully woke up are fuzzy. I was badly burned up my side where the flames had licked at my skin. I kept asking when I was going to be able to see my parents, but everyone just gave me sad smiles and no answer. By this time, I knew for sure that my parents were not in the house. So where were they?

I found out a few days later that my parents and my aunt and uncle were in a car accident and all of them had died

My cousins and I, we dont have any other family. We dont have any grandparents anymore, not for the past 6 years. I was told that Darry was allowed to keep Soda and Ponyboy and live alone at their house but I didn't have that option. I didn't have an older brother just about to become a legal adult.

I was set up with a social worker who was helping me cope with the loss of my family. Ms. Patricia Reynolds said that she'd do her best to keep me close to family and pull as many strings as possible to keep it that way. She sounded so sure of herself I couldn't help but smile up at her from my hospital bed.

Three months later I was finally allowed to be released form hospital. I had been in there long enough and was just itching to get outside and move around again. More good news soon followed. Ms. Reynolds said that I was to go down to Tulsa to live with my cousins. I was very happy to be able to go live with them, but at the same time, their parents died recently as well and I doubted that me joining that household would make things easier on them, that I was just going to be another mouth to feed.

But here I am, sitting in the front seat of my social workers car, who drove me all the way to Tulsa herself. Arrangements had been made for my stay as well as monthly cheques to pay for me to live there. Now, a month and a half before my 16th birthday, I started my new life in Tulsa, Oklahoma

-finished-

Alright. Now that I got that awkwardness out, I can start on the actual plot =) horray! Honestly, this chapter I wish I didnt have to do. The actual story will start, with people talking and everything. Also anything that sounds confusing will all get explained in due time.

Also I appologize in advance if I have trouble with past and present tenses, I have a habbit of switching between the two. But I'm trying to get on top of that.

**Hope you enjoyed and dont be afraid to leave a review of anything you liked, didn't like, thinks it needs to be changed. C=**


	3. Sun Gold Gleams

Alright! Actual plot this time!! Woot! I'm sorry if any of the characters are out of character, but I'm going to work hard on keeping them as in character as possible and it will hopefully get better as I go along.

Just a reminder that I am in no way getting paid for this story and I in no way own anything to do with The Outsiders.

Mopiece: Thank you for the reviews, I really appreciate the tips. I was looking up the check/cheque spelling on the internet, and both came up as the right spelling. But like you said, its no biggy C=

-start-

A tall woman wearing a light blue calf length skirt and a matching cardigan knocked on the door of a small house in a run down neighborhood. Beside her stood an older girl in a bright yellow knee length skirt and a short sleeve white top who looked fairly nervous to be there. The woman put her hand on the girl's shoulder and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry a thing, hunny. They're your family. You have nothing to worry about," the woman said softly. The girl nodded her head, she knew this.

"I know," she replied softly. She looked like she was having troubles finding what she wanted to say. "It's just that so much has happened. I dont know how to act anymore."

"Then dont act, just be yourself. Try that."

The girl nodded as the front door swung open revealing a young man who looked to be in his early twenties.

"Darry!" the girl cried, dropping the bag she was carrying to wrap herself in her cousins hug. Tears leaked out of her eyes as Darry hugged the girl back. "Glory I missed you."

Behind Darry stood two more boys. One of them had blond hair and bright blue eyes with a movie star smile while the other was younger, with brown hair that seemed to reflect hints of red and green-blue eyes. When the girl caught sight of them, she pulled herself out of Darry's hug and launched herself at the two boys. "Sodapop! Ponyboy! Glory I missed you all!"

"We missed you too, Emma," Ponyboy replied.

"It's real good to have you back," Soda added.

Ponyboy grabbed her hand excitedly and started pulling her inside, "Come on, you have to see your new room."

Emma stretched around to grab her bags before she left them outside but Darry had already grabbed them all and gave her a small smile as he followed them all inside. The woman, Ms. Reynolds, followed them all into the living room where it looked like someone had tried to shove all the mess into the corner. Soda had offered to get everyone drinks and came out with five glasses of water for everyone. Emma and Ponyboy walked back into the living room to sit down with the others now that her stuff was safely sitting in her room.

Ms. Reynolds cleared her throat and all attention was on her. "I'd like to discuss the legalities of Emma living here."

&&&&&&&&&&&&

After Ms. Reynolds left, the four cousins sat in the living room in silence. The boys had each other to hold on to for the death of their parents, but Emma didn't have anyone. She wasn't even able to attend the funeral because she was still in the hospital.

"Emma," Darry finally broke the silence. "Whatever you need, we will try to find for you. We're family and family sticks together. If you ever need us, we're here for you."

Emma nodded her head slowly to show she understood. "Thank you so much for everything. You cannot imagine how much I appreciate it."

The family moment was broken by a teenage boy walking right in through the door without knocking. "Come on Soda, we going to be late for work if we don' be leaving now."

Soda jumped up and started searching the house for his shoes. Finally finding the second one behind the TV he turned to Emma. "Wanna come?"

Emma stood up, smoothing out her skirt. "I'd love to come Soda," she smiled.

"Hey Steve," Soda yelled outside to their front porch where Steve was waiting. "You didn' notice her, but Emma's back. She's comin' with us today."

Steve turned to look back inside to look at the lone female. "It is Emma! I didn' recognize you without all that pretty hair of yours. What'd you go and chop it all off for?"

Emma froze for a moment and subconsciously reached up to touch her now short locks. "I was in an accident," was all she said before snapping out of it, smiling up at him. "So how've you been lately? I haven' talked to you in forever."

Soda came up from behind them, grinning. "Come on guys, less talk, more walk!"

They laughed and said goodbye before leaving the house, catching up with each other as we walked down the street. 'God it feels good to laugh again,' Emma thought with a happy smile on her face.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The trio made their way to the DX with little time to spare. Emma mainly talked to Soda as he pumped gas as long as girls weren't there. She learned long ago that if she got in the way of the love struck girls who dreamed for Soda's attention she would be ignored and glares would be sent her way for being close to him. It was much easier just to ignore the whole situation to begin with.

The day was slowing down and so were costomers to the DX. Steve and Soda had returned inside the gas station, Steve sitting on the stool behind the counter while Soda and Emma sat on top of the counter. The door opened with a jingle as an older boy with long rust coloured side burns danced into the store.

"Soda! Steve! You'll never believe what just happened!" Keith 'Two-Bit" Mathews exclaimed excitedly, bouncing from foot to foot. He barely glanced at Emma. "Oh, hey Emma."

Soda grinned at his excited friend. "What happened?"

Two-Bit looked like he was going to burst from energy if he didn't get this out. "So I was walking along minding my own business 'n all when all of a sudden I came across Dally who was talkin' to Emma! Jeeze, Emma! When'dyou get back?"

Emma giggled into her hand softly at her old friend. "I dont remember talking to Dally today. Are you sure it was me you saw?"

Two-Bit burst out laughing and reached forward to hug Emma. "Good Lord girl, it's been forever." He leaned back to get a good view of Emma. Grinning, he ruffled her hair and gave her a wink. "Cute hair."

Emma blushed and subconsciously reached up to touch her hair. "Thank you," she said quietly.

Steve looked at Two-Bit impatiently. "So this story that was so important two minutes ago?"

Two-Bit's eyes lit up in renewed excitement. "So like I was sayin', I saw Dally talkin' to Johnny who said that Ponyboy told him that Emma was back!"

No one looked all that impressed with Two-Bit's 'exciting news' as his face lost it's excited shine. "What? I thought it was good news," he whined.

Steve cuffed the back of his head. "It ain't important anymore if you've already seen her an' so have we."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

When the sky started to darken, Emma said goodbye to Steve and Soda and began to walk home. She used this quiet time to think about her day without interruption. Sighing softly, she ran a hand through her shortened hair. While still its natural sun kissed blonde, it was only about three inches long and curled about her face and ears. She was so sad when she woke up at the hospital and realized that her long hair that came halfway down her back had to be chopped off since most of it was singed beyond repair in the fire.

The sun was halfway down by the time Emma walked across the front yard to the house. The last beams of light echoed gold in her light blue eyes, reflecting the hope she held for everything in her life to continue on without much more hardship.

Even though she was decidedly nervous when she first got to Tulsa about how she was going to act and how much everything had changed, Emma was pleased that Ms. Reynolds was right. She just had to be herself and things would fall into place.

Walking up the front porch and throwing the door open without knocking, Emma was able to call out something that she hoped no one would ever take away from her again.

"I'm home!"

-finish-

There we go. Emma is now reuniting with her old friends and family but still has more to do. Next chapter, Dally and Johnny. As she goes along and gets more comfortable her personality will change a bit. She's just been through some pretty tramatic experiences and hasnt gotten all her liveliness back yet. As I write this, I love watching her character grow.

**If you have any questions, comments, thoughts or anything, just review and I'll try to adress it to the best of my ability.C=**


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